07 September 2018

PGM 1191 'ENVIRONMENTS' : sept. 7-14

IRV TEIBEL was an innovator and entrepreneur who created the ENVIRONMENTS series of ambient sound recordings in the 1970s. He perfected the concept of functional therapeutic background sound, once comparing his recordings to "a bar of soap." Teibel realized that nature sounds had a soothing, calming, restorative quality, so he concentrated on ocean waves, flowing streams, birds, insects, wind and rain. Listening to nature sounds takes us back to pre-industrial, pre-electronic media times, where we spent hours every day immersed in natural sound environments. In fact, it's fair to say that our stereoscopic hearing system itself evolved to guide, position, and protect us in the natural environment.

With characteristic bravado, Teibel called his one-man record label SYNTONIC RESEARCH. His obsessive persistence, technical talent, genius for branding and marketing, and over-the-top, buzzword-filled copywriting led to the first commercially successful series of ambient sound recordings. The debut release in 1969 was an ocean recording, which he branded "The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore." Against all odds, it was a hit—picked up by a major label and sold millions, which gave him the freedom to expand his idea into a series. Teibel wasn't a purist; when he couldn't get a real ocean recording that fit his concept, he turned to a scientist friend at Bell Labs and created it electronically on an early IBM mainframe.

Until recently, his work was an almost forgotten artifact of the 1970s. But according to a profile by CARA GIAIMO at atlasobscura.com, Teibel was the transition between the 1960s era of Muzak, "mood music" and cheesy sound effects records, and the 1980s era of New Age atmospherics, Ambient music and Brian Eno. And, not coincidentally, Hearts of Space.

The original ENVIRONMENTS LPs and later CDs were out of print for years, but recently they appeared on the full-catalog streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Not only that — thanks to new age sound historian DOUGLAS McGOWAN and the NUMERO GROUP reissue label, you can now buy the complete ENVIRONMENTS catalog of 22 long-form ambient nature recordings for just $2.99 as an app— making the experience affordable, personal, portable and accessible, even when you're offline. It's so effortless to play them in the app that it encourages more use, experimentation, and appreciation. How cool is that?

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a celebration of the pioneering ambient sound recordings of IRV TEIBEL and Syntonic Research, on a program called ENVIRONMENTS. We'll feature selections from 16 of the ENVIRONMENTS series recordings, tracking the sounds of a day from dawn to night and beyond, into contemplative environments for digital bells and choral voices.

The gentle world of natural ambient sound: ENVIRONMENTS...on this transmission...of Hearts of Space.